Passenger data plan runs into trouble

The Home Ministry’s plan to activate the Advanced Passenger Information System has run into turbulence. The system -- by which an India-bound flight would have to provide Indian authorities with data on all its passengers within 15 minutes of take-off -- would have made life easier for customs and immigration officials. But airline operators say it will only lead to a big mess, even hit Indian tourism in a big way.
With the operators up in arms, the ministry has been forced to alter its plans and will activate APIS only on Air-India flights on May 1 as a pilot project. Within a month, other airlines will be asked to do the same. On July 1, APIS will be formally implemented at IGI and then at other international airports in India.
The ministry's original notification required airlines to be responsible for providing information like “complete name, date of birth, nationality, sex, passport number, country of issue, country of permanent residence, visa number and date and place of issue”. But following protests, it has settled for the first five categories of information for the first six months of APIS.
27/04/06 Nandini R Iyer/Hindustan Times

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